Fear

A couple nights ago I was sure I was in the early stages of labor. And instead of being excited, I was terrified and feeling panic. This was not part of my labor plan. But I couldn't make the nervous feelings go away. Finally I got some rest and my contractions went away by 3AM. But I realized that I need to get get myself together, and rely more strongly on the ONE who will get me through this. I KNOW labor will be hard work. I don't want God to take that away. But I want to face it with peace, and grace and the knowledge that He will not leave me and He can give me the strength to get though it. So please pray that with me and for me in the next few weeks...

One of these is not like the other ones...

I have to admit when Jeff said he would like to put our kids in a local school I rebelled. They'll never fit in I thought. The other kids will never get used to them. They'll be teased, harassed and end up hating it. But as time went on I realized that God can use situations like these, and I really have no idea what is going to happen. My hope is that are kids will make some good friends, and that they will learn Bambara, the local language. So far they have gone to school for one week. (Mornings only) And they did fine. Joe says the kids touch his head a lot, and he doesn't know anyone's name yet. But it was only the first week. I'll keep you posted and put up more photos of the other kids soon...

School Time

School has started. Joe and Harley are going to start reading this year. We are doing the Sing, Spell, Read and Write curriculum. I needed something that was self contained and self explanitory so that when we move around this fall waiting for baby to come, we can easily take it on the move and Jeff could easily step in and teach them. So far so good... we are off to a good start!

Having a baby...

I'll be honest... the few hours of labor terrify me. I think it's the unknown that is the hardest to deal with. When labor starts, and then gets increasingly painful, you really don't know how much longer you'll have to 'do this'. Of course there is comfort in the fact that it WILL end. It never lasts forever. :)

So this will be my sixth delivery. I'll give a brief rundown of the kinds of deliveries I've had, and what I'm hoping for this time...

Drew: 16 hour labor, all natural, 2.5 hours of pushing, shot of Demerol near the end (Two days after due date)

Joe: Water broke, hospital induced labor with pitocin, stadol through IV, 16 hours (Two weeks early)

Harley: Water broke, hard contractions, quick delivery, 2.5 hours (Two weeks early)

Zach: 20 hour labor, slow start, picked up throughout the day, epidural for last two hours (On due date)

Jethro: 6 hour labor, fast and hard contractions, epidural last two hours (Two weeks overdue)

So I've had lots of different experiences. As an epidural is not an option for me for this next delivery, I am reading up on natural childbirth and how people deal, cope or even enjoy it. It seems like some women view this as a rite of passage into motherhood and feel very empowered by their experience in childbirth. I would have to say with Harley's birth, I did feel very strong and unstoppable. (Look what I just did?) So I am hoping as I practice my breathing and visualization techniques, that I will be able to stay focused, hold myself together, and even enjoy the birthing process this time. I know if you can stay relaxed, your body is more able to do what it needs to, and it is a good method to trust your body. I must not let panic creep in because that does no good for me or my baby. I really am looking forward to meeting this new child.

I recently got the book, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, and the DVD 'The Business of Being Born.' I would highly recommend both to any woman, but especially to those who may have another child. There are so many wonderful things our medical world can do for us as laboring women. But also so much that is unnecessary to the process of something our bodies are made to do. Even after having five children, there was much I learned from reading this book.

I have also read the book Hypnobirthing and it has some great breathing and visualization techniques in it that I am hoping to use.

A Day in my Life...

Monday dawned humid and hot. When will we get relief from a rainstorm I wondered . The plan for Mondays is for me to spend a couple hours in the morning at our neighborhood medical clinic. I'm trying to get to know the women and learn some Bambara. Getting out the door is always a challange. After starting some laundry, greeting a few visitors, buying some mangos from a merchant girl, and preping my house help for the morning... I was off. My bike is the perfect transport to whip around our neighborhood. It keeps me active and my feet out of the sewer filled street. When I arrive at the clinic there is a long line of brightly clad women and babies, waiting for their turn to get their free baby vacinations. They greet me warmly and chatter happily amoungst themselves. After many clients have filed through I ask about one in particular who has not moved, nor has she recieved any shots for her baby. Oh her baby is tounge tied the nurse responds to me. I asked the woman how old her baby was. She said, "One week old.... No, ten days." she corrected herself. A few minutes later the nurse came out with scissors in hand. (You are not really going to clip her toungue right here on this porch are you I wonder?) Sure enough... she smacks the babies foot to make her cry, holds her toungue up with her fingers, and clips with the scissors. The baby fusses for a mintue and her mother offers her the comfort of her breast. All is well... the scissors go back to the delivery room for cutting the cord of the next newborn. (After being sterilized of course!) All in a days work!

Who knows why God has opened so many doors for me to work at the clinic. The midwives are more than willing to let me jump in and deliver a baby, even though I am not trained. As I continue to learn about labor and delivery, I like to encourage and pray for the women and children. I have now attended eight births. One of the needs for this clinic is hemostats and scissors. They only have two pairs of each, not enough to get them sterylized between deliveries if they are back to back. If you could help meet that need, this little clinic would sure appreciate it. I also give a newborn baby outfit to each new baby when I attend a birth. If you want to donate used newborn clothes, that would also be well received.

Lovin' my boy

Normally he wakes up when we go in the room... but he was out cold today... he is teething and not feeling well...

What a sweetheart...

He needed lots of extra snuggles today... mama loves those kinds of days...

Update...

A lot has been happening in our lives. But I have not taken many photos lately. Hopefully I can pick it up again.

I bought an injured bird from some neighborhood kids in hope of nursing it back to health. It lived for 3 days. We were not quite ready to take on a new pet, but I just couldn't let the kids keep dragging it around town till it died, so I wanted to save it.

Jethro turned one! He is a happy, adventurous boy. He loves to be outside. Here he is on our well, one of the places he like to play.

I really do love having a baby around... I'm glad there is another one on the way.

Zach is still into everything, even as a three year old. He loves to help anyone with a project and he loves to go anywhere anyone might be going. He really is a big help... you just have to keep him busy so he doesn't get himself into trouble...

Mango anyone?

So a couple days ago we had another rain storm... this is unusual for April. Usually this is the middle of hot, dry season. Well Jeff did a video about it that you can watch at our family blog. But my job was and is... what to do with all the mangos that our tree dropped in one day. Hundreds of mangos... I will give some away, let some ripen, and cut up and freeze a lot to use in cooking. Stop by for some mango sauce, mango cake or mango crisp if you can!

Ups and Downs

OK... it's not that bad... But we have hit a wall. It is the four month wall I think... and it happened to coincide with hot season. Jeff and I have both been feeling stuck and unproductive in the last few weeks. I know it will get better.

A few frustrating things...

- It's hard to learn a new language in the midst of life...

- There is no where to 'get away' (Like the mall, coffee shop, grocery store, dollar store... )

- It is HOT - kids have heat rash

- There are no pools in our town

- We don't have friends or family to really talk to

- Whenever the kids want a snack... I have to cook something (crackers, cookies, bagels)

- Bugs and dirt

A few good things...

- Our kids are awesome

- Fans... and air conditioning when we want to splurge for an hour

- Mangos!!! lots of them (the one snack that is ready and waiting)

- Internet to connect with family and friends

- A rain storm to chase away the heat

So yea... it's not that bad, it's just been hard, and we are trusting God that He will bring us through and soaring on the other side of this valley. We do look forward to spending Easter with our new Church family here in Kadiolo. I'm praying for a good time of fellowship, and for our young friend Kadiatu who is a muslim girl going with us to Easter. She says she wants to be a Christian, but it may be more likely that she wants to go to America. Pray for her to really understand the gospel and want to be a Christian because Christs has spoken to her!

Birth Number 2

I was called to another birth on Friday. It was 4pm, not even the middle of the night. So I thought I better jump on the opportunity to go help out. When I arrived I found out this was an 18 year old girl delivering her first baby. She was outside walking around and had been found to be 8cm dilated.


She wanted to have a rest and came back inside to sit down. They checked her again and had me check her. Again I am no good at this part. I must need much more practice. Aparantly she was 9 centimeters. Shortly after this she expressed a desire to eat something so her friend went off to find some food. When it arrived she sat down to have a snack.



After that she was tired again and wanted to go in and lie down. She was told she need to walk to get her contractions going. They were coming, but not real close together. Like any first time mother, she did not want them closer together or to feel any more pain. But she was very brave.


Here sit the three midwives/nurses waiting for things to progress... When she got so tired she had to lie down, they hooked her up to an IV and gave her some pitocin to make the contractions come along faster.



Here came the difficult part of the delivery for me. As we had checked her the nurse commented on her circumcision. It is very common practice here in Mali for a girl to be circumcised in her childhood. Unfortunately for this girl, she was sewn up too small to allow for this baby to be born. As the baby began to crown the midwifes had to perform an episiotomy to allow the baby through. This makes me so sad. It is a very traumatic experience when a girl gets circumcised, and now in childbirth it becomes more traumatic again because of this. There was no anisthetic used to aid in pain relief either.


A healthy girl was born around 6:30pm. I asked them what the sex was so that the mom could hear. Then after the baby was weighed and left on the scale, I asked if I could hold her. I took her over the the mom and showed her beautiful baby to her. That part gave me great joy.


Pray for me as I plan to talk to the midwives about working on educating their patients about the negative effects of female circumcision.